


Branches

by JakeyFryMason011



Series: Branches [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, a bunch of alternate universes, other characters if i feel like it, what the hell why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 02:58:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JakeyFryMason011/pseuds/JakeyFryMason011
Summary: How Mike and Eleven met, like they always will.(I'm bored so I figured I'd re-do that Mileven Week "fate" prompt with parallel universes.)





	Branches

**Author's Note:**

> I already have other stories I'm working on (apologies to ajson123456) but I'm bored as hell so why not?

**Earth Designate 889**

**September 16, 1987**

Wheeler inhaled from his cigarette, bobbing his head to the music as he shook the spray paint can. 

 _I ain't no joke, I used to let the mic_ _smoke,_ said the radio. 

"Damn," a voice said, interrupting him, and he glanced up and nodded at Lucas, who strode lazily into the alleyway. "You been busy, Wheeler," he said casually, nodding at the graffiti. 

Mike was proud of this one, arrowed and spiked in green and blue and red, proudly advertising his tag of "PALADIN" on the brick. 

_Now I slam it when it's done to make sure it's broke_

He nodded, adding a few touches. "How long you think this'll last?"

"Dunno. Max's 'MadMax' only lasted for at least a few days."

"Don't tell her I said it, but that one was cool."

Lucas shrugged, sitting down and adjusting his bandanna. "Well, whatever," he said. "Subway cops, they're all suckers with no appreciation for art anyhow." His own tag "Ranger" had rudely been painted over just yesterday. 

Mike hummed in agreement, stepping back. 

 _Write a rhyme in graffiti in every show you see me in, deep concentration cause I'm no comedian,_ said the radio 

Sinclair, apparently having just noticed, glanced at the radio. "Eric B and Rakim?"

"You know it."

The darker boy smiled, lighting his own cigarette. "Still think Run-DMC is king."

"Ahh--their rhymes were too simple for me. Come on, though, this shit is fresh."

_But soon you start to suffer, the tune'll get rougher_

_When you start to stutter, that's when you had enough of biting it_

Lucas shrugged. "Can't beat the originals."

 _You can't cope, you shoulda broke because I ain't no joke,_ Rakim insisted. 

Wheeler grinned. "Now you know as well as me Coke La Rock is the original MC."

"Right, right."

Mike tossed away his spray paint cans, and he and Lucas set off down the street, making sure to take the radio with them. 

_This is what we all sit down to write, you can't make it so you take it home, break it and bite_

"Want to get a burger?" Lucas asked him. Mike shrugged. "Sure. I probably ought to hand off the radio to someone, though."

"Leave it with Dustin, he'll freak. Meet you there?"

"Sure," Mike agreed, and he strolled in a different direction. 

The apartment door opened. "Wheels," Dustin said, his ever-present hat on his head. "What's up?"

"Just gonna leave this here for a bit," Mike said, lifting the radio slightly. Dustin beamed. "Are you saying--"

"I want it back by tomorrow," Mike said.  _I hold the microphone like a grudge, B'll hold the record so the needle don't budge,_ added Rakim helpfully. 

Dustin grinned wider. "You bet!"

That was it, and Wheeler, now without his radio, strolled down back to the burger place. 

A rattle in the alley, and Mike turned to look down. At the end, a hooded figure added touches of purple to a very impressive mural which read "MAGE."

"Hey," Mike called. The figure froze. 

Walking down the alley casually, he stopped and looked at the piece. "Nice," he said, whistling. "You do this just now?"

"Yes," said whoever it was from under the hood. He started at the voice--too deep for a boy's. "Wait, are you a  _girl?"_ he asked.

"So what if I am?" she asked, turning to face him. The hood fell away, and-- _damn._

If she wasn't fine, nobody was. She was smaller than him, with hazel eyes and soft features, but she carried herself like she could beat him if she wanted to. 

"N-nothing!" Mike said. "Just--wasn't expecting it under the hood."

She relaxed, ever so slightly. 

"What's your name?" he asked her. 

"Mage," she said. "Yours?"

"Paladin."

"Not gonna tell me your real name?"

"Not gonna tell me yours?"

"Fair enough," she said, nodding slightly. "I'm Jane."

Somehow the name didn't suit her. "Jane?"

"Yeah. Gross, I get it," she added. "Sometimes I go by Eleven."

"Why Eleven?"

"It's a cool number," she said almost defensively. 

Wheeler shrugged. "What if I called you...El? Short for Eleven?"

"Who says you'll ever see me again?" she teased, but shrugged. "Sure. What's your real name?"

"Mike," he told her. 

"Mike. I like that. Well, hi, Mike."

Something about the way she said it made him shiver. He nodded mutely, and turned back to look at her art. 

"Where you headed this evening?" he asked her casually. El shrugged, "nowhere, probably. I might just head home."

"Want a burger?" he found himself asking.

"A what?"

"A burger. You know, from Benny's."

"Wait, what's Benny's?"

Wheeler gave her a scandalized look. "Benny's Burgers! Only the flyest burger place this side of New York."

"Does the sign say Hammond's?" 

"Well, yeah, but everybody calls it Benny's."

"Oh. I didn't know that. I've been there."

"So...? Want to come along? My friend Lucas is there too, and his girlfriend Max."

"Max Mayfield?"

"MadMax? Yeah, you know her?"

"We hang out from time to time," she said, grinning. Then, she suddenly started to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"We are going to Ha--Benny's, right?"

Mike grinned at her back and jogged to catch up to her. 

_And I'm finished when the beat is gone, I'm no joke_

* * *

**Earth Designate 1672**

**November 7th, 1983**

"Is there a number we can call? For your parents?"

The scene is familiar: four children in a basement on a rainy night, three having gone looking for their missing friend and instead stumbling across a new problem. 

But look closer. There are differences. Two boys and two girls: one boy with a red, white and blue cap, one girl with fierce red hair, one girl with hazel eyes and curly brown hair, and one terrified buzz-cut boy on the couch. 

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" The buzz-cut boy inches away from Dustin's overexcitement. 

"Why is your nose bleeding--" Max says, reaching over, and the boy jerks his head away. However, this movement is small compared to when Dustin loudly decides the boy is deaf, and claps loudly in his face. 

"Guys, stop! You're freaking him out."

"He's freaking me out!" Max protests, but Jane ignores her. "That's enough. He's just...scared. Scared and cold." 

Jane walked over to a basket in the cabin and passed some clothes to him. "Here. It's clean."

The boy nodded and reached to pull his pants off. 

"OhmygodEW," Max shrieks, turning around, and Dustin does too. 

Jane blushes but grabs his arm. "No, not here. See, look, come on." Guiding him gently (he recoils at first, but relaxes), she guides him to the door. "See? Privacy. Change in here."

She goes to shut the door, but his hand shoots out and grabs it. "No," he says.

"You don't want to door closed?" she asks him. He shakes his head, eyes wide. 

Jane frowns, but says "What if we just close it a little...see? Is this okay?"

The boy allows it, and she turns to have a talk with her friends. 

"This is mental," Dustin says when she gets back.

 "At least he can say things," Jane says.

"He tried to get naked!" Dustin says, as if this decides on everything. 

"There's something really wrong with this kid," Max says. "Like, in the brain."

"What if she escaped from Pennhurst? That asylum in Kerley County?"

"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin jabs, and Max hits him. "Shut up. Come on, guys, think. That explains the weird buzzcut and the...weirdness. What if he's like Michael Myers?"

"A psycho?" Jane asks. 

"Yes! Duh! We never should have let him in the house!"

"We couldn't have just left him in the forest!" Jane protests.

"We should have!" Max says. "We went out to try and find Byers, not this kid." 

"We should tell Hopper," Dustin says.

"Yes! Let's do that."

"Are you nuts? Do you know how my dad would react?"

"How is that nuts?" Max demands.

"We weren't supposed to be outside tonight!" Jane says. "So if my dad tells your  _dad--"_

Max flinches. "Step-dad," she corrects, but sighs. "Fine."

"Here's how it's gonna work," Jane says, hushing her voice. "He's sleeping here tonight."

"You're gonna let a boy--" Max says, but Jane hisses "Shut up. He's sleeping here tonight. Tomorrow, we're gonna go back out with him, then we're gonna come back and pretend like we just met. Got it? Tomorrow, he'll be back in...wherever...and we can try to look Will again." 

Max and Dustin climb up the stairs, watching Jane kneel in front of the boy, speaking softly.

"Think he's a psycho?" Dustin asks.

"If he isn't, what is he?" Max says simply, and they leave. 

"I never asked your name," Jane says to him. Nervously, he reaches out and shows her his wrist.

_011._

"Eleven?" Jane asks. For a split second, the number seems almost familiar to her--

He jerks his arm away. "I'm sorry," she whispers to him. "I've never seen a tattoo like that before. Is Eleven your...your  _name?"_  
  
Eleven nods.

"You don't have any different name?" Jane asks him. "Anything?"

He screws up his face in concentration. "M...Michael," he says. "Michael is...me. And Eleven."

Jane thinks of Max insisting "Michael Myers!", but she only says "Okay. What if I called you Mike?"

He nods. "Mike. Yes."

She beams at him, because he really is cute even if he looks weird with the buzzcut. "Well, okay. Good night then, Mike."

"Good night, Jane," he says, and she stops, wondering how he knows her name, but smiles at him instead and goes upstairs. 

* * *

**Earth Designate 6**

**July 23, 2016**

Mike sighed, rubbing his forehead wearily as he drove along the highway. Today had not been a good day. He had gotten two parking tickets in two different spots, and his work at Owens Industries seemed to rob him of energy every day. 

He just wanted to sleep...

There was an explosion somewhere to his right, and he gritted his teeth. Of course there was going to be another one today. Now traffic was just going to be hell. Debris started raining down on the highway (someone really should find a way around that) and he swerved to make sure he didn't hit anything.

Unfortunately, he swerved right off the overpass.

 _Fucking fantastic,_ said part of his brain. (The other part said  _SHIIIIIIITTTTT)_

Then, the car abruptly changed course, landing gently in the grass. Mike opened the door, getting out.

"You okay?" a voice asked him, and Mike turned to say that he was great, thanks for the save--

\--when he was met by Mage, superhero and Mike's total celebrity crush (actually, so only crush, but whatever.)

"Uh--" he said eloquently. "Y-yeah."

She grinned at him. "You're lucky I was there."

"Y-yeah. Totally!"  _Smooth, Wheeler,_ said his brain. 

Wiping blood from her nose, she landed and surveyed a large buckled part in the front of his car. "Sorry about that," she said. "I'm still getting ahold of some of my..abilities."

"Well, I'm not dead, so I can't complain," Mike said. "Although really, death would be preferable over my insurance."

She giggled, and Mike stopped himself. Had he really just made Mage, possibly the coolest superhero ever,  _laugh?_

"Funny," she said. "You're funny."

_I must have hit my head when I drove over._

He blushed. "Th-thanks."

Suddenly, her symbol lit up. _"Mage, come in,"_ a voice said.

"Yeah, I'm here, Zoomer," she said.

_"Where are you? Come on, this guy's kicking our ass!"_

"Oh!" Suddenly seeming to remember the giant mech-suit trashing downtown, she nodded. "Right. Sorry. On my way!" Turning to Mike, she grimaced in a way that seemed...apologetic? "Sorry. I really should go."

"Right," Mike said, not wanting to feel too disappointed. "Yeah, okay." 

Mage smiled at him before flying away.

A second later she was back. "Here," she said, handing him a piece of paper. "Call me sometime." Then, smiling radiantly at him, she flew away. 

Mike grinned dopily, watching her.

Then something else exploded, and he ducked for cover. 

* * *

**Earth Designate 567322**

**December 28, 1985  
**

The good thing about the winter was that the walkers were easier to kill.

As if they were ever easy.

Someone who he was sure had been Eleanor Gillespie in life staggered towards him, groaning, and he swore as his double-sided axe connected with its head. It collapsed in the snow, gurgling, and he swung his axe again and it was still.

Fuck. It had attracted friends. Mike decided this time it was better to run, so he took off.

Dodging trees, a ludicrous poem came to his head:

_Robin Hood and Little John running through the forest_

_Jumping fences, dodging trees and trying to get away_

He would have laughed if he knew how to do that anymore.

Leaping over a rock, and kept running, adrenaline pumping his veins as the walkers howled behind him.

He just had to make it to the truck--

He was in! Slamming the door shut, he locked the doors and barricaded them. Outside, they scratched at the metal grating, but they couldn't get in. He made sure of it. The truck rocked as the screaming zombies pounded on the walls.

They'd leave, eventually, but it would be at least a day or so. Did he have enough supplies for that?

Mike hoped so.

_Contemplating nothing but escape and finally making it_

_Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly what a day_

Suddenly, the walkers stopped jostling the truck, their attention instead focused on something else. 

Mike looked out the windows--

CRACK. A walker was hefted into the air and its head exploded, raining gore everywhere. His comrades ignored this and shuffled forward towards whatever.

Outside, someone screamed. And it was, to his surprise, a human scream, filled with rage. One by one, he watched as the walkers were lifted as if by a string killed.

It was impossible.

Twitching, their bodies finally stopped moving, and Mike hesitantly opened up his door.

There was a girl there, human, wiping blood from her nose.

"Hello," she told him.

"Hi," Mike said. "What--how did you--"

"Powers," she said.

"What?"

"Powers. I can lift things. With my mind."

Impossible.

But then again, zombies were supposed to be impossible too.

"Holy shit," Mike whispered.

Then he fainted.

When he woke up, he was in his van.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, leaning over him. Her curls brushed his face delicately.

She was extraordinarily pretty up close, and best of all she was looking with concern. At Mike.

"Fine," he said, sitting up.

She smiled at him softly. "Good."

Mike rubbed his head. "Who are you?" he asked her.

"My name is Elle," she said with a smile. "You?"

"Michael," he said. "But everyone calls me Mike. Or, when there were people around."

"Mike." She nodded, as if thinking it over. "It's nice to meet you."

Mike grinned at her like an idiot. "Likewise."

_Robin Hood and Little John, walking through the forest_

_Laughing back and forth about what the other one has to say_

_Reminiscing, this-and-thatting, having such a good time_

_Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly what a day_

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'm sorry that wasn't a whole lot. Let me know if you want more!


End file.
